TECHNOLOGIES
& TECHNIQUES
Color Matching, Made Easy
APR/SpotOn! Press Collaboration Wins 2014
FTA Technical Innovation Award
Spot colors are typically matched in one of two ways:
visually, using a subjective comparison of the colors
and a keen eye, or by calculating Delta E through the
use of a spectrophotometer. Regardless of the method used,
there are a number of variables that make obtaining accu-
rate, consistent results from job to job and press to press a
difficult process. To make matters more complicated, neither
of these methods provides any corrective actions to improve
the determined color match.
All Printing Resources (APR) and SpotOn! Press decided to
tackle this problem and developed SpotOn! Flexo. The inven-
tion was named the winner of FTA’s 2014 Technical Innovation
Award in the Prepress Pressroom category. “ On behalf of
APR, we are honored to be recognized with the prestigious
FTA Technical Innovation Award for our SpotOn! Flexo soft-
ware,” said David Nieman, president and CEO of APR.
“ Our vision of creating an effective, accurate and depend-
able tool for flexo press operators to consistently control ink
densities would not have been possible without the support
and involvement of APR,” added Bruce Bayne, founder and
SpotOn! Flexo architect. “ SpotOn! Flexo is color made easy.”
OPPORTUNITY SPOTTING
“I met Bruce more than 20 years ago while I was with
Fujifilm,” recalls Richard Black, APR ’s director of digital solu-
tions. “ Bruce was one of the first consultants to become a G7
expert. In working with his clients and the G7 process, Bruce
developed a complex Excel spreadsheet he used to help ob-
tain and manage the G7 process—other consultants who had
seen the spreadsheet actually offered to buy a copy.”
This Excel spreadsheet is what led to Bayne’s software,
also called SpotOn!, says Black, which was released in 2008
and sold well.
After spending several years in the flexo market with APR
and understanding the ink delivery system, Black reached
out to Bayne in October 2009 to discuss creating a pressroom
software product aimed at assisting flexo press operators.
“A fter a few meetings, Bruce and I literally created the idea of
SpotOn! Flexo on a cocktail napkin,” Black says.
SPOTON!’S BENEFITS
• Improve color matching
• Reduce press makeready time
• Improve color consistency
• Reduce downtime
• Provide historical records of each pressrun
• Reduce waste
SpotOn! Screen 1: Color composition is analyzed and data is plotted on color curves and axes.
34 FLEXO | MAY 2014